Stonewalling by AmeriCorps Official
Heats Up IG-Gate Story

by Robert Stacy McCain | July 9, 2009 12:42 pm

Byron York reported this morning[1]:

A top official of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the government agency that oversees AmeriCorps, has refused to answer questions from congressional investigators about the White House’s role in events surrounding the abrupt firing of inspector general Gerald Walpin.

I followed up with a report that CNCS General Counsel Frank Trinity’s stonewalling has generated bipartisan indignation[2]:

Democratic congressional staffers investigating the firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin asked tough questions of an agency lawyer who refused to discuss White House involvement in the case, a source familiar with the investigation tells the Spectator. . . .
Trinity told congressional staffers that he was “not authorized” to discuss White House involvement in the June 10 quit-or-be-fired ultimatum to Walpin, the Spectator’s source said. Democratic staffers were clearly annoyed by Trinity’s non-response and questioned him about his reasons for not answering.

My source said that, between the AmeriCorp IG case, and the similar cases of inspectors general at Amtrak and the International Trade Commission, congressional staffers are “bouncing around” between different investigations. Last week, the Amtrak case was the big thing, and now the AmeriCorps case is drawing more attention. The fact that it involves three distinct cases — not to mention questions about the independence of TARP special inspector general Neil Barofsky — is one reason the story keeps making headlines with such regularity.